Rob Reed working on Sanctuary II

Magenta mastermind Robert Reed has begun work on the follow-up to solo album Sanctuary.

And although it has a working title of Sanctuary II, neither the name nor the material he’s already written might make the final cut.

The 2014 title was his personal tribute to Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells and saw him playing all the instruments himself.

Reed tells Prog: “At the moment the album has two long pieces and I have a few ideas for some shorter tracks. I’ve really gone off the idea of long albums at the moment – especially as the music is quite dense.

“I’ve been writing and demoing for a few months and finally I got enough of a structure to start recording properly. But the way I work means it’s yet to be seen how much will survive. I really like every second to count. If something’s not working I’ll erase it.”

He’s also planning to perform Sanctuary live in the coming months, and he’s had the music scored to assist a 10-piece band in performing it. “Working out how to recreate it live is a nightmare,” he admits. “Obviously, I can’t play it all myself so I have to put together a live band.

“I’m just getting dates and venues sorted. It’s exciting – I really enjoyed making the album and the reaction was really positive.”

Meanwhile, Reed is finalising a list of guests to appear on his next work, which he expects to release early next year. “I should be able to announce them in the coming weeks,” he says.

More details will be confirmed in due course.

Rob Reed: The Ultimate Mike Oldfield Fan!

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.